Editorial: A last bastion threatened

POSTED: 11/2/11 12:05 PM

We have not yet seen or heard that anyone plans to protest during the visit of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix on Thursday. Interestingly though the royal party will be heading to the Emilio Wilson Estate which is about to generate some heated discussion between the government and one of the island’s heritage organizations.

For some six years now the Emilio Wilson Estate Foundation has been working to get the property designated as a protected area so it can be preserved for future generations. Undoubtedly word that government is mulling over whether to allow a company to build an attraction will come as a shock to the foundations. They are also well in their rights to be proactive in their protest.

A question left unanswered though is whether or not government has just had a nice presentation on a potential attraction and said they’d look at it, or is that the company has applied for a planning permit. If the latter is the case then the Emilio Wilson Estate Foundation and every other organization and person concerned about preserving one of the country’s last green areas and an area of historical importance should file a protest. If the latter is not the case, a new petition calling for government to not even consider the idea should be circulated.

All of us has a stake in ensuring that at least one last bastion of green, peace and history remains accessible to all of us, especially since government would violate one of the government’s own policies to accomplish it.